25 Sep 2008

Report from: Colm O'Callaghan from the final day at the Folio Show in Chicago.

CNN Money online used to publish one new video every day. That was about a year ago. Today, they're putting out 15 to 25 new videos every day but their budget hasn't increased by 15 to 25. And at the Folio show in Chicago, they explained how they've managed to do it. They're using written reporters to work with the video medium but not to be video reporters and that's the real genius behind what they're doing.Here's a great story they've done on petrol prices and how they're affecting low income areas. http://money.cnn.com/video/#/video/news/2008/03/24/news.gas.prices.alabama.cnnmoney. Instead of trying to train a written reporter to be something he or she is not, they've just filmed the reporter doing his job, made him and CNN more credible and used that material to make the video. It's in expensive, requires less training and lets everyone do what they're best at.

Additionally, they have what they call producers. Producers is really the name for someone who shoots, scripts and edits video pieces and they make use of the written reporters skills in doing so. They are effectively one-man teams with some help from a written reporter. And the material is compelling.